Authentic Information & Answers to Questions About Scientology

Does it cost a lot to be a member of the Church and take services?

No.

A person who donates for auditing receives one-to-one personal and effective assistance to solve problems in life, to communicate more freely with others and to handle the upsets of life preventing his true spiritual freedom. Having achieved these lower levels, a parishioner moves on to more advanced levels on which he is literally seeking immortality, which is priceless.

An entire team of Scientology staff members is required to deliver auditing, which is always individual, and/or training to a parishioner. Compare this to a church with a single priest or minister who delivers a single sermon to a congregation of perhaps 1,000 and the difference starts to become apparent. It would take about 650 ministers just to audit 2,000 Scientologists (one auditor can counsel three parishioners per day with some administrative assistance), and this does not account for all other staff who provide the services necessary for the Church itself to function.

The training delivered by Churches of Scientology could be compared to taking a course in a school or similar facility. Four years at a typical university would cost between $30,000 and $40,000; four years at a top university would run between $80,000 and $90,000 or even more. And those figures do not include additional costs such as books and supplies.

The most thorough study of Scientology available is the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, which takes more than 50 weeks to complete, at 40 hours per week of study. It provides a student with a full understanding of the mind and life and is the functional equivalent of a complete college education. The requested donation is between a fourth to a tenth of that charged by universities. Yet, the manpower required to deliver such training is very comparable. And Scientology churches provide this service without being supported by any government funding, as many universities are.

Students who are learning to become auditors must audit others as part of their training. In many cases, they co-audit each other and, of course, there is no donation requested for that. A person can receive the majority of his own auditing in this manner.

Furthermore, Scientology’s donation system is fair. Unlike some religions which tithe the incomes of all parishioners, regardless of how much they participate in religious activities, the Church of Scientology receives donations from those parishioners who avail themselves of the services it offers and in proportion to services actually received.

For parishioners who can afford no donation, there is even a center at every Church where they can still receive auditing from ministers in training. And finally, Churches of Scientology conduct services similar to other denominations each week—including Sunday services—and no donation whatsoever is requested.